The only practical reason I can think of for why the ritual would be carried out naked would be to make it easier to dry off afterwards. That said, the deity gets to set whatever rules she pleases.
I'm starting to wonder if Shra is being mind-controlled or drugged. That's not how little kids work.
Hang on, Faraday didn't agree to this! No one told her that she was going to have to make this kind of decision, and we're supposed to be okay with her getting surprised like this when the Sentinels are standing right there and will clearly be upset and disappointed if she says no?
Seriously, suppose she did run. Do you really think Jack and Yr would let her get away with it? That they wouldn't just drag her back and brainwash her into doing it anyways?
Forced conversion is not okay!
And that's without the additional ickiness of how shame is one of the few things reliably scarier then death and women tend to get taught that making a scene is shameful. All in all, this should be played for horror.
(And that's before you get into Faraday literally swearing an oath she does not understand. Seriously, she has no idea what she's swearing to do, so for all she knows she's just promised to set fire to the fields of innocent farmers. This should never be presented positively!)
Faraday felt very glad she had insisted upon not participating in the ritual as Raum and Shra stripped. Why, her mother would be horrified if she heard Faraday had done such a thing!
... Would have been horrified. Tears pricked her eyes and blurred her vision, and something told her Jack and Yr would not like them.
She turned slightly to blink them away, and when she looked back Raum had a hare in his arms. Her stomach turned when he cut into the hare, but she firmly told herself that it was really no worse then hunting.
He drew lines of blood down Shra's body, and then asked her to swear an oath.
Faraday's blood froze. Not for Shra's sake, she was clearly something like an oblate, but for her own. Had she agreed to undertake this rite, she too would have been asked to join Raum's order.
And a few days ago, she might have said yes.
She almost missed Raum tearing something out of the hare's chest and throwing it into the lake. She could not miss the result. The lake glowed a startling emerald green, one that reflected off the trees and the mountain and the thin clouds.
Raum picked Shra up, walked into the lake with her, and then dove under the surface. The sight almost startled her to movement, but she told herself quite firmly that she had no way of successfully intervening and anyways that would just give Jack and Yr what they wanted.
A hand shoved her shoulder, forcing her to grab onto the tree for balance. "Go, quickly!" Jack said. "While it's still open!"
Faraday gasped, truly frightened. "I said no!"
"The prophecy requires it," Yr told her.
"Pretty lady, you must," implored Jack.
Faraday murmured a quick prayer to the martyr St. Karcuna for strength and courage and braced herself against the tree's trunk. "No," she said, hoping she sounded as confident as she wanted to be. "I'm not doing it, and you can't make me."
"Do you want the whole world to freeze?" Yr hissed spitefully.
If you answer, she will win.
Faraday said nothing. She saw it now - say no and they would guilt her into going, say yes and they would still guilt her into going. But stalling could only work so long.
The way is closing. Soon it will not permit entry.
But how soon was soon?
"Well?" Yr snapped. "Aren't you going to answer me?"
"Would it matter if I did?" Faraday asked.
Something ugly twisted in Yr's face, a glimpse of something kept carefully hidden. "Of course it matters girl," she said.
She lies.
"Not here," Faraday said, "and not now. Not for you."
"You have to go, pretty lady," Jack pleaded. He reached out -
Close your eyes.
- and even through her closed lids Faraday could see the bright flash. Jack cried out in pain.
"This is Ceolmund's work," Yr said.
"Can't be," Jack said. "It's the wrong colour."
"There's no one left who could," Yr snarled. "Why did he follow us?"
The way is shut.
"Nevermind that," Jack said. "We missed our window."
Faraday opened her eyes to see that the light coming from the lake had shifted to a far less intense shimmer. Will Shra be alright?
She will be permitted exit.
She rested her fingers over her pendant. Ceolmund had made it, was it responsible for whatever had pained Jack?
A memory of a memory of a memory floated up through the tree she was braced against, of a branch cut from a faraway tree around whom gentle hands had woven wards against pests until they had sunk into the heartwood. It had rooted well in the forest, and those roots had knitted the ward throughout the glade, carrying with it an echo of the power which had crafted her pendant.
Faraday quietly giggled and hoped neither of her companions heard her, as there was no polite way to explain the tree had classified them as very large pests.
no subject
I'm starting to wonder if Shra is being mind-controlled or drugged. That's not how little kids work.
Hang on, Faraday didn't agree to this! No one told her that she was going to have to make this kind of decision, and we're supposed to be okay with her getting surprised like this when the Sentinels are standing right there and will clearly be upset and disappointed if she says no?
Seriously, suppose she did run. Do you really think Jack and Yr would let her get away with it? That they wouldn't just drag her back and brainwash her into doing it anyways?
Forced conversion is not okay!
And that's without the additional ickiness of how shame is one of the few things reliably scarier then death and women tend to get taught that making a scene is shameful. All in all, this should be played for horror.
(And that's before you get into Faraday literally swearing an oath she does not understand. Seriously, she has no idea what she's swearing to do, so for all she knows she's just promised to set fire to the fields of innocent farmers. This should never be presented positively!)
Faraday felt very glad she had insisted upon not participating in the ritual as Raum and Shra stripped. Why, her mother would be horrified if she heard Faraday had done such a thing!
... Would have been horrified. Tears pricked her eyes and blurred her vision, and something told her Jack and Yr would not like them.
She turned slightly to blink them away, and when she looked back Raum had a hare in his arms. Her stomach turned when he cut into the hare, but she firmly told herself that it was really no worse then hunting.
He drew lines of blood down Shra's body, and then asked her to swear an oath.
Faraday's blood froze. Not for Shra's sake, she was clearly something like an oblate, but for her own. Had she agreed to undertake this rite, she too would have been asked to join Raum's order.
And a few days ago, she might have said yes.
She almost missed Raum tearing something out of the hare's chest and throwing it into the lake. She could not miss the result. The lake glowed a startling emerald green, one that reflected off the trees and the mountain and the thin clouds.
Raum picked Shra up, walked into the lake with her, and then dove under the surface. The sight almost startled her to movement, but she told herself quite firmly that she had no way of successfully intervening and anyways that would just give Jack and Yr what they wanted.
A hand shoved her shoulder, forcing her to grab onto the tree for balance. "Go, quickly!" Jack said. "While it's still open!"
Faraday gasped, truly frightened. "I said no!"
"The prophecy requires it," Yr told her.
"Pretty lady, you must," implored Jack.
Faraday murmured a quick prayer to the martyr St. Karcuna for strength and courage and braced herself against the tree's trunk. "No," she said, hoping she sounded as confident as she wanted to be. "I'm not doing it, and you can't make me."
"Do you want the whole world to freeze?" Yr hissed spitefully.
If you answer, she will win.
Faraday said nothing. She saw it now - say no and they would guilt her into going, say yes and they would still guilt her into going. But stalling could only work so long.
The way is closing. Soon it will not permit entry.
But how soon was soon?
"Well?" Yr snapped. "Aren't you going to answer me?"
"Would it matter if I did?" Faraday asked.
Something ugly twisted in Yr's face, a glimpse of something kept carefully hidden. "Of course it matters girl," she said.
She lies.
"Not here," Faraday said, "and not now. Not for you."
"You have to go, pretty lady," Jack pleaded. He reached out -
Close your eyes.
- and even through her closed lids Faraday could see the bright flash. Jack cried out in pain.
"This is Ceolmund's work," Yr said.
"Can't be," Jack said. "It's the wrong colour."
"There's no one left who could," Yr snarled. "Why did he follow us?"
The way is shut.
"Nevermind that," Jack said. "We missed our window."
Faraday opened her eyes to see that the light coming from the lake had shifted to a far less intense shimmer. Will Shra be alright?
She will be permitted exit.
She rested her fingers over her pendant. Ceolmund had made it, was it responsible for whatever had pained Jack?
A memory of a memory of a memory floated up through the tree she was braced against, of a branch cut from a faraway tree around whom gentle hands had woven wards against pests until they had sunk into the heartwood. It had rooted well in the forest, and those roots had knitted the ward throughout the glade, carrying with it an echo of the power which had crafted her pendant.
Faraday quietly giggled and hoped neither of her companions heard her, as there was no polite way to explain the tree had classified them as very large pests.